Click chart for larger version (Chart source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)

Rents in New York City and Northern New Jersey saw their smallest annual increase since 1994, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, climbing just 1.6 percent between January 2010 and the same month a year earlier. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate was at 10 percent in the area over the same time period. Housing costs in the region have ramped up far more rapidly than other living expenses for the last quarter century, according to the report. Since the early 1980s, housing costs have increased by more than 300 percent, compared to food expenses which rose 125 percent and clothing, which rose less than 20 percent. Household energies on the other hand have decreased by 1.6 percent over the same time period. TRD [more]